Internal-combustion engine



Jul 29 1924.

Filed April 11. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 il ERETfR 5UR77V77 2 Sheets-Sheet2 E. R. BURTNETT INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Avril ll.

fr lg Ill/4 EE'IT R. BURTNETT, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA,

ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF T0 HOMEB'A. BRUNELL, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Application filed April 11, 1921. Serial m3. 460,308.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known'that I, EVERE'I'I' R. BUnTNaTT, a citizen of the UnitedStates. residing at Los .Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and Stateof California, have inventednew and useful Improvements in Internal-(ombustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates generally to internal combustion engines, and moreparticularly, to an engine of the sleeve valve, four-cycle type.

The principal objects of my invention are to generally improve upon andsimplify the construction of the existing types of similar engines, toprovide a construction wherein but a single valve mechanism of the S1-eve type is needed for each engine cylin I der, to provide an enginehaving a minimum number of operating parts, thereby materiallydecreasing the cost of manufacture and maintenance, and, further, toprovide an engine wherein the production of pow r from a given amount offuel will be 'materially increased. \Vith the foregoing and otherobjects in view, my invention consists in certain'novel features ofconstruction and arrangement of parts that will be hereinafter morefully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of an internalcombustion engine of myimproved construction and with apart of the housing broken away to showthe valve actuating and timing gears. I

F'g. 2 is an enlarged vertical section taken through the center of oneof the cylinders of my improved engine.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken approximately on theline 33 of Fig.2.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken approximat"ly on the line 44 ofFig. 2. I Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectionta ken'ap proximately on theline 55 of Fig. 2. F lg. 6 is a horizontal section taken approximatelyon the line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate apractical embodiment .of my invention, 10 and 11 designate,respectively, the upper and lower parts of the crank case, the samebeing formed in two or more parts andcombining to form a closed housingfor the crank shaft. 12, and which latter is "jourboring and chamber isof uniform diameter throughout its length. thereby greatly facilitatingfinishing operations, and the upper end of said combustion chamber isentirely devoid of all lateral pockets or chambers and which latter, itwill be understood, are present in'all forms of T and L-shaped headcylinders.

The wall. of the cylinder that encloses the combustion chamber 15 isprovided with a chamber 16 through which a fluid cooling medium such aswater is adapted to circulate and which fluid cooling medium passes toand from said chamber through circulation pipes such as 17.

Seated in a suitably formed threaded aperture 18, and preferably in thehead of the cylinder block or body, is a spark plu 19, the terminals orsparking points of whic extend into the chamber 15, preferably at apoint coincident with the axis thereof, and, by virtue of suchconstruction, the spark produc"d within the combustion chamber iscentrally located. and as a result, more uniform ignition of thecompressed charge within said combustion chamber is effected. Formedthrough the upper portion of the wall of the cylinder that surrounds thecombustion chamber is a plurality of exhaust ports 20, the same openingdirectly into an annular exhaust chamber 21, and leading from thelatter, preferably at diametrically disposed points, are exhanst pipesinlet chamber-25 towhich is connected apipe or conduit 26 that leadsfrom a suitable source of gaseous fuel supply.

Formed through the Wall of the cylinder that surrounds the compressionchamber 24 and leading from the lower portion of the annular chamber 25into said compression chamber, is an annular row of gaseous fuel inletports 27. l Arran ed for reciprocatory movement within t e combustionchamber 15, is an open ended tubular member 28 that performs thefunctions of a sleeve valve, and the upper outer edge of this sleeveortubular member is cut away to. form a shallow annular groove such as 29.

This sleeve extends a substantial distance downwardly through thecompression chamber 24, and formed integral with or fixed to the lowerportion of said sleeve, and arranged for reciprocatory movement withinthe compression chamber, is an annular piston 30 that comprises ahorizontally disposed plate 31 that incloses the space between thesleeve and the annular wall surrounding the compression chamber and saidplate being provided at its outer edge with a depending ange 32 thatfits snugly against the inner face of the wall surrounding thecompression chamber. This annular compression piston be acked in anysuitable manner, prefera ly, y means of suitable packing rings 33 thatare seated in the outer faces of flange 32.

Formed through the wall of sleeve 28 and preferably at a'pointimmediately above the annular compression piston 30, is an annular rowof ports 34 that are adapted to admit the compressed gaseous fuel fromthe compression chamber 2 1 into the combustion chamber 15, ashereinafter more fully described. If desired, one or more suitablepacking rings such as 35 may be seated in the outer face of the sleeve28 above the compression piston 30, and, in order to effectivelylubricate the external face of the sleeve above the compression piston,one or more relativel small annular grooves such as 36 may be ormed inthe inner face of the combustion chamber, and which grooves are suppliedwith liquid lubricant through a duct such as 3T'that is formed throughthe wall of cylinder 14.

Arranged for rotation in suitable bearings above and to one side of thebearings for crank shaft 12, are bearings 38 in which is 'ournaled avalve actuating crank shaft 39.

his crank shaft is caused to rotate at half the speed of crank shaft 12,by means of a pinion 40 that is fixed on crank shaft 12, preferably at apoint outside the crank case of the engine and said pinion meshing witha larger pinion 41 that is fixed to the crank shaft 39.

The pinions 40 and 41 are preferably arranged within a suitable housing42; and

their relative sizes effects a complete rotation of crank shaft 39 witheach two complete revolutions of crank shaft 12.

Arranged in suitable bearings on the lower portion of sleeve 28 and thepoint beneath the compression piston 30, is a Wristpin 43 to which isconnected the upper end of a link or pitman 44 and the lower end of thelatter being journaled on one of the cranks of shaft 39.

Arranged for reciprocatory movement within sleeve 28 is a piston 45 thatcarries a wristpin 4:6, and connected to the latter is the upper end ofa piston rod 47, the lower end of which is journaled on one of thecranksof shaft 12.

The external diameter of the piston 45, with the exception of thegrooves that are provided for the packing rings, is uniform throughoutits length, thus permitting the external surface of the piston to bereadily finished and permitting the piston to be very accurately fittedinto the-sleeve 28, the internal diameter of which is uniform throughoutits length.

Piston 45 may be packed in any suitable manner, preferably y means ofsuitable packing rings seated in its periphery at points adjacent to itstop and bottom.

In order that my improved engine may function properly, it is essentialthat the crank of shaft 39, to which link 44 is connected, occupy anangular position that is 45 to the left of a straight line drawn throughthe axes of shaft 39 and wristpin 43 when the piston 45 is at its upperlimit of movement or at the point of highest compression, and whichposition is illustrated in Fig. 2.

The operation of my iuiproved internal combustion engine is as follows:

Assuming that the piston 4:5 is at its upper limit of movement and thata charge of gaseous fuel has been drawn into combustion chamber 15 abovethe piston and compressed therein, andthat the timing apparatusassociated with the engine produces a sparl' within the terminals ofspark plug 19, the compressed charge of gaseous fuel will be ignited,thereby driving the piston downwardly through sleeve 28 on its powerstroke, and the motion and power thus developed will be directlytransmitted to shaft 12 and the latter will be rotated in the directionindicated by the arrow iII'Flg. 2.

By virtue of the two-to-one gear connections between shafts 12 and 39,the latter will be rotated at half the speed of the former, and aspiston 45 travels downward through the sleeve on its power stroke saidsleeve will also travel downwardly, but at a relatively slower speedthan said piston.

While iston 45 is thus traveling downward on its power stroke, inletports 27 are closed by the flange 32 of the annular compression piston30, inlet orts 34 are closed piston 45, and the ex iaust ports 20 are cosed by the upper portion of sleeve 28.

As the piston starts on its succeeding upward stroke, sleeve 28 hasmoved downward a sutlicient distance to bring the annular groove 29 intoregister with exhaust ports 20, and thus, on said upward stroke ofpiston '45, the products of combustion resulting from the precedingexplosion of gaseous fuel within the combustion chamber will be forcedout, through the exhaust ports, into the annular chamber 21, and saidproducts of combustion will pass from said chamber outwardly throughexhaust pipes 22 As the annular compression piston 30 moves downwardwith the sleeve 28 as'just described, a partial vacuum will beestablished in the chamber 24 above said annular piston, and as saidcompression piston moves to its downward limit of movement, inlet ports27 will be uncovered, thereby permitting a charge of gaseous fuel to beinstantly drawn into the compression chamber to re-v place the partialvacuum therein, and, owing to the increased diameter'of the compressionchamber 24, the volume of gaseous'fuel drawn thereinto is considerablygreater than the amount required to fill the'combustion chamber atnormal or atmospheric pressures.

Immediately after the exhaust stroke of.

piston 45, the latter starts downwardon its suction or vacuum produ'cingstroke and immediately, sleeve 28 starts on its succeeding upwardstroke, thereby closing the exhaust ports 20 and likewise closinggaseous fuel inlet ports 27. A

As piston 45' continues its downward movement, a partial vacuum will beestablished in the combustion chamber 15, and

- such partial vacuum will gradually increase until the top surface ofpiston 45 passes inlet ports 34, whereupon the combustible chargepreviously drawn into compression chamber 24 and compressed to arelatively high degree by the preceding upward movement of thecompression iston 30, will, as a result of expansion and t e partialvacuum within the combustion chamber 15, instantly enter and fill thelatter.

This action, it will be understood, takes place when the piston 45 is atthe lower end I of its vacuum producing stroke and while the sleeve 28is at its upper limit of movement, and, on the succeeding upwardmovement of piston 45, the combustible charge drawn into the combustionchamber will be com ressed to a relatively high degree, and, at t epoint of highest compression, or immediatel thereafter, the compressedcharge will be ignited to drive the piston downward on its power stroke,and thus the cycle of o rations is completed.

-T us, it will be seen that I have produced valve operations;

a relatively simple and efficient internal combustion engine of thesleeve valve, four-cycle type, that has many advanta eous features ofconstruction that are particularly desirable where high speed rotarymotion is desired; and, among the many advantages of construction andoperation that may be found in my improved engine, the following may bementioned The successful timing of a single valve to function onecylinder for the of operation, thereby efiecting a reduction of parts inexact ratio to the number of cylinders employed in a single engine unit;a great reduction in production cost through the use of onlyone valveper cylinder and one link to actuate said valve, also the relativelysimple cylinder and crank case structure-which is made possible by thesimplicity of the valve mechanism; a material reduction in maintainancecost due to the character of the valve and its operation, said valvebeing protected from heat by fuel charge circulation and induction, alsoby a body of cooling medium such as water directly adjacent to thecylinder wall that contains that portion of the valve that is exposed tothe maximum heat resulting from the combustion of the fuel Within thecombustion chamber; the positive cooling of the piston and a materialreduction of the temperature of the piston head, and which result isattained by the forced induction of relatively cool fuel gases thatsweep or flow directly and uniformly over the piston head for periodsalternating with the combustion periods; the production of greater powerat high rotative speed, which advantageous result is accomplished bypressure induction of the fuel gases into the combustion chamber at atime when the latter has the greatest or maximum degree four cycles 7 ofdisplacement, and by providing means, I

through the particular design of the valve and without-the addition ofany part or movement other than those required to provide an exhaust andinlet port function, to forceany quantity ofheat units or any desiredvolume of atmospheric pressure into the combustion chamber, of smallerdisplacement, thereby providing any initial pressure preceding thecompression stroke of the cycle, that may be desired; and, further theprovision for an initial pressure greater-than atmosphere, if desired,at any rotative speed without additional parts or the elimination of onevalve member and .its actuating means, which is a decided improvementover the conventional four-cycle engines having two or more valves foreach cylinder; and in this connection, it will be understood that thegreater power obtained in the relatively small modern types of enginesis derived from the use of relatively large valves and in mostinstances, dual valves (four to each cylinder) and which valves areactuated by overhead cams that create more or less noise in operationand which tend to transfer a volume of fuel to the combustion chambernear the full displacement at high speeds; whereas, in my improvedengine, full volume of fuel gas is assured at any speed with materiallyles s parts than are required in ordinary engines; further, increasedelliciency of combustion and less power losses by heat radiation,through the provision of a combustion chamber of such size as to containthe greatest content of fluid in relation to the area of the containingcylinder wall; the material advantage of high speed combustion due tothe location of the terminal points of the spark plug at the cen-' terof the charge of fuel, and the absence of pockets or lateral extensionsfrom the combustion chamber; the greater port area in ratio to thepiston displacement and the quick opening of said ports, whichadvantages are gained by my improved design, wherein the ports arearranged in annular rows and extend entirely around the circumference ofthe combustion chamber and the valve; the absence of noise in operation,and which result is accomplished by the elimination of all poppet valvesand valve operating mechanisms; a positive sealing of the vacuum andpressure through the use of metal packing rings on the valve and piston;the material reduction in back pressure of exhaust gases due to theannular arrangement of the exhaust ports and the provision of exhaustpipes on opposite sides of the combustion chamber; and further, theelimination of water gaskets in the cylinder head and the materialreduction in weight due to a relatively short cylinder head and the sizeand shape of which latter permits it to be easily and quickly producedand finished.

The use of a single sleeve valve in an internal combustion engine hasmany advantages, and where constructed in accordance with my inventionand arranged to operate in proper time relation to the movements of theiston, said valve functions in many ways; or instance, it cuts oil thesuction from the carburetor or source of gaseous fuel supply,pie-compresses the fuel charge before induction into the combustionchamber, controls the induction of the fuel charge into said combustionchamber, positively provides a full volume of fuel at all engine speeds,seals the combustion chamber during the compression and expansionstrokes, controls the entire annular row of exhaust ports fora certaindegree of lead, during the full duration of the exhaust stroke, and fora certain degree of lag, and establishes a artial vacuum in theprecompression 0 amber that is effective in drawing into said chamber afull charge of gaseous fuel.

In addition, the annular compression piston formed on the sleeve valveis effective in drawing into the compression chamber a charge of gaseousfuel that is slightly greater in volume than the piston displacement inthe corresponding engine cylinder, such action taking place while thepiston is making its power stroke. This charge is com- ,pressed duringthe exhaust stroke of the piston, and said charge is inducted underpressure, into the combustion chamber at the end of the vacuum stroke,or as the piston passes over its lower center, thereby preparing thecharge by ore-compression and positively inducting a full volume of fuelat all speeds.

It will be readily understood that minor changes in the size, form andconstruction of the various parts of my improved internal combustionengine may be made and substituted for those herein shown, withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is setforth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder of two diameters havinga combustion chamber and a cpmpression chamber, exhaust ports formed inthe combustion chamber, intake ports formed in the compression chamber,a valve sleeve slidable in the combustion chamber and controlling saidexhaust ports, a piston fixed to the valve sleeve between the ends ofthe latter and working within the compression chamber to control theintake ports, said valve sleeve being formed with ports for effectingcommunication between the combustion chamber and the compressionchamber, and a piston working within the valve sleeve.

2. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having a combustion anda compression chamber at the lower end of the combustion chamber, anexhaust chamber at the upper end of the cylinder, exhaust ports foreffecting communication between the exhaust chamber and the combustionchamber, an annular intake chamber surrounding the compression chamber,ports for effecting communication between the intake chamber and thecompression: chamber, a valve sleeve mounted for reciprocatory movementwithin the cylinder to control the first ports, a

iston-carried by the valve sleeve and working within the compressionchamber to control the second ports, said valve sleeve being formed withports at a point directly above said piston, and a power piston workingwithin said sleeve and controlling the ports of said sleeve.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

EVERETT R. BURTNETT.

